This is the OMD most people are familiar with. The big songs "So In Love" and "Secret" were chart singles and they both had videos that MTV played in their heyday. But I think this album started OMD on their short up and coming road to stardom. I like the tracks "The Native Daughters Of The Golden West", "Women III" and the title track "Crush" in which Andy McCluskey curses out the rain. OMD continued to have a couple more hits after this. They had the theme song in the movie PRETTY IN PINK (If You Leave) and the single only "Dreaming" which was the new track on the BEST OF collection. My favorite album by OMD came out after CRUSH and was entitled "The Pacific Age" which is now unfortunately nearly impossible to find on CD. CRUSH definitely put Andy McCluskey, Paul Humphreys, Martin Cooper and Malcolm Holmes on the 80's New Wave map.

I've been listening to a variety of music for many-a-year. This album was a fav in the hay-day mid 80's and to this day it remains without dust on my shelf. This is certainly a one of a kind album that no-one has tried to duplicate. Ironicaly, the best songs were the least popular, thus the are always fresh because they are never overplayed on the radio (free or satellite). I did not like much after this, Pacific age had 2-3 songs that I liked but nothing, but nothing, touches 'Crush'...

If you get this album plus one of their many greatest hits
you have completed your obligation to this band. 1986
was the height of the futuristic pop progressive movement
and OMD had been waiting for this moment since 1979.
The album reaches into glorious nostalgic riffs and exotic
synth only seen in the 86-87 window of time.

The album artwork is even nostalgic to a sort of
re-enlightenment of good sound before the dark times,
before the days of grundge.

This was the follow up to "Junk Culture." It was made popular by the release of the made-for-soundtrack tune "If You Leave," and if that's what you expect from OMD, you will not be disappointed. The singles "So In Love" and "Secret" show that when they were on ther game, they had the pop styulings down. They still stayed strange in a "Dazzle Ships" sort of way with the song "Crush," with the sampled voices between Andrew McCluskeys breathy complaints about the "f****** rain.." It is completely redeemed by the gentle tune "Hold You." It's hard to say that OMD is a must have, but if you are going to pick one that isn't their Greatest Hits CD, this is definitely the one.

This is a good album to get if you want to see what OMD is about. So In Love and Secret are well-known songs off this album. Some other really good songs off this album are Crush, Hold You, and 88 Seconds in Greensboro.